THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
A VIEW OF THE CREVASSED AREA BEYOND 8I DEGREES SOUTH FROM AN ELEVATION
OF 5,000 FEET
Amundsen had crossed this rough area by dog sled 18 years previously. Some of the crevasses
are more than Ioo feet wide and of unplumbed depth.
the necessary overlap had really been ob
tained. I was never really sure until the
film was developed.
There was still too much work ahead to
give the subject further thought at the
time, even though the interval between ex
posures could be increased. In the east,
mountain peaks protruded above the sur
face, even though the Polar Plateau itself
is, at its rim, Io,ooo feet high. This range
continued in sight some time after we had
reached 87° south. Then the camera again
recorded a flat, barren surface. I now had
time to realize that I was really hot,
even though the temperature was subzero.
Struggling in fur clothes with a 50-pound
camera in a crowded ship had been hard
work.
AT THE POLE
The operation of the camera was now
becoming routine; in fact, I was doing it
almost automatically. I had been taking
pictures continuously for almost 10 hours.
It seemed as if we must be near our objec
tive. Between each shot I glanced at the
Commander, hoping to have him signal
that we had arrived at the imaginary spot
on the earth's surface which we call the
South Pole. Suddenly the plane turned
to the right; it circled. The Commander
opened the trapdoor and saluted, as he
dropped the Stars and Stripes. I began
snapping the camera at top speed, so as not
to miss any of this barren surface-mere
rippled snow-where all meridians con
verge.
As the plane turned north, pictures were
taken to the west. Eight hundred miles
more of terrain were to be photographed,
but this was done almost without incident.
The night after our return to Little
America the films were developed. As the
shades were drawn in Little America, that
part of the 24 hours of daylight was our
night. It is not hard to realize the sus-
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